Britain Doubles Flu Vaccine Reserve Pending Pandemic

Britain will double its antiviral vaccine reserve pending a major flu outbreak It was confirmed on the 22nd November that Britain is set to increase its antiviral medicine reserve pending a potential widespread flu outbreak. The announcement was made by Alan Johnson, the UK Health Secretary.

The increased stockpile will serve to treat approximately 50 per cent of the population in Britain – in line with the number of people that scientists currently consider could be struck down by a flu pandemic.

According to Mr Johnson, the strengthened vaccine supply places Britain within the global nations best prepared to combat a flu pandemic.

Mr Johnson referred to the vaccine accumulation as “defence in depth”, using as its basis a worst case scenario where as many as 2.5 per cent of those with flu were ultimately killed by it.

Antiviral Drug Tamiflu to be Used

The health secretary added that the drug Tamiflu would form a core part of the defence in the short term, while a vaccine is being developed

Tamiflu is an anti-viral drug. Such products are incapable of curing cases of flu, but, if taken early enough, act to lessen the severity and duration of it.

The vaccine reserve increase announced forms part of a larger anti-flu directive, in which the government is aiming to procure 34 million respirators and 350 million surgical masks.

Expert predictions have it that, should a flu pandemic hit Britain, as many as 750,000 additional deaths could result.

Flu pandemics of the lethal kind generally happen three or four times every 100 years. A sentiment shared by a number of scientists is that such a development is only a matter of time away, with bird flu acting as a possible catalyst.

To date, several hundred instances have been recorded involving the H5N1 human strain of bird flu. The primary concern, however, is that, after having mutated, this strain could rapidly become widespread.

Source – Pharmaceutical International’s Health Reporter